In addition to the attempted murder charge, Clement, 36, was found guilty of burglary, aggravated assault and assault on May 23.

Jeremy Clement, left, watches with his attorney, Walter McKee, as witnesses approach the stand May 21 during the first day of Clement's trial on charges of attempted murder in Kennebec County Superior Court. Clement is scheduled to be sentenced Monday. Staff file photo by David Leaming

Assistant District Attorney Michael Madigan addresses the jury May 21 during the first day of Jeremy Clement's trial on charges of attempted murder in Kennebec County Superior Court. Behind Madigan is Justice William Stokes. Clement is scheduled to be sentenced Monday. Staff file photo by David Leaming

Justice William Stokes also entered into the verdict a count of possession of a firearm, which the jury had not been tasked with deliberating, since Clement had admitted during testimony to having a gun when he was prohibited from having one.

On April 19, 2017, Clement rode his all-terrain vehicle to a house in Oakland where his ex-girlfriend, Jasmine Caret, was staying with her mother, Roseanna, and her grandmother, May. Clement, armed with a pistol, kicked in the door. He got into an altercation with Roseanna Caret, who defended herself and her daughter with a baseball bat, striking Clement, who then shot Jasmine Caret.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges in October 2017.

Jasmine Caret, who was present during portions of Clement’s trial, was brought to tears and nearly became ill at the sight of the blood-stained shirt she was wearing when she was shot, which was admitted as evidence.

The jury initially was not able to reach a verdict on the attempted murder charge, but Stokes sent them back, advising them to continue working. After nearly six hours of deliberation, the 12-person jury found him guilty on all charges, ending the three-day trial.

Clement was represented by Augusta attorney Walter McKee, who said Clement never intended to harm Jasmine Caret. Instead, he argued that Clement had gone over to the Caret home to kill himself with his gun in front of Jasmine.

“I was planning to commit suicide and have her watch it,” Clement said during his May 22 testimony. When asked why he wanted Jasmine Caret to watch him shoot himself, Clement responded, “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

Clement said he had been drinking that day and had been abusing alcohol leading up to the events. He said Jasmine Caret also had been abusing alcohol. He felt depressed because he had lost custody of his three children, including the son he had with Jasmine Caret.

Clement’s relationship with Caret had been “great” to begin with, he said. They had met when he was 16, had been dating for about six years, and had been living together. However, he said he had to take a leave of absence from work because things were falling apart with his family.

Clement testified he had called the Department of Health and Human Services about Caret’s drinking problem. He said DHHS then looked at his drinking problem and took his children.

McKee said Clement was facing the prospect of not having custody of his children again and felt hopeless. He said it was not out of the ordinary for someone in Clement’s predicament to feel suicidal.

“Him being suicidal is not in dispute,” McKee said during the trial.

However, the prosecution, which was led by Assistant District Attorney Michael Madigan, said Clement went to the Oakland home fully intending to kill Jasmine Caret. Madigan said Clement didn’t come up with the story of planning to kill himself until well after the shooting took place. He also noted that Clement never asked about Jasmine Caret’s well-being after the shooting.

“He didn’t go inside to kill himself. He didn’t go there with one bullet. He went there with a magazine,” Madigan told the jury on May 23.

Clement’s defense said he shot Jasmine Caret by mistake when he was struck in the head by her mother, Roseanna Caret, with a baseball bat. The defense stated Clement had been holding the gun high in the air, and it only came down toward Jasmine Caret after he had been hit in the head with the bat.

The prosecution, however, refuted that claim, saying it didn’t add up because of the entry and exit wound in Jasmine Caret’s shoulder. She was crouched lower to the ground. In her testimony, Jasmine Caret had said Clement was holding her down. Clement denied that.

“The bat did not make this gun go off. Jeremy did,” Madigan said.

McKee said Clement did not shoot Jasmine at close range, as evidenced by the lack of burn marks on the bloody shirt she had worn that day. He also said the evidence didn’t show where she was standing, if Clement was holding her down or whether he had the gun pressed against her.

McKee had attempted to make the jury view all of the Carets’ testimony as untrustworthy. He said Jasmine, Roseanna and May had either lied or changed their stories during testimony.

Jasmine had lied about drinking the day of the shooting, McKee said, initially having said she wasn’t drinking because she had gone through a detoxification program. However, in May, Jasmine Caret said she had been drinking that day. McKee argued that this was proof her testimony was unreliable, and both she and Clement testified they suffered from alcohol addiction.

He also called into question Roseanna Caret’s previous testimony, as well as May’s, over how many shots were fired and who they were fired at that day. McKee said the state’s witnesses provided “a troubling amount of inaccurate information.”

However, the jury ultimately sided with the state, finding Clement guilty on the charges levied against him.

Since his conviction, Clement has been held without bail. Before the verdict his bail had been set at $500,000.

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